Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A65982
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A sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-hall, on Sunday, Jan. 8, 1692/3 by William Wigan ...
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Wigan, William, d. 1700.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing W2099; ESTC R39394
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11,810
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30
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will they not be distracted who should fear all the Evil they see or hear overtakes others unexpectedly as loss of Limbs Senses Estates Friends good Name or Life And yet we know almost all sort of Afflictions fell upon righteous Job in one day in perfection The Sabaean Chaldaean and the Devil seiz'd upon and destroyed his Flocks and his Herds his Sons and his Daughters and he had only time between to hear distinctly his Losses and then to be smitten with Sores from head to foot and to have all his Sufferings inflam'd by miserable Comforters Who is insured that he shall not be oppressed or visited in like manner And yet scarce any are so unwise as to torment themselves with the dread of the like S. James reproves them who say to Morrow We will go into such a City James iv 13. and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye knew not what shall be on the morrow For what is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away If then we ought not to presume on the morrow for the contingent enjoyment of what we believe profitable neither ought we to presume on it for a contingent evil As it is sinful to imitate the rich man in the Gospel in promising our selves long to live and enjoy Luke xiâ— 19 the Goods that are laid up for many Years since the following Night or sooner our Souls may be taken from us So it is sinful for any so to concern themselves for what distress God may bring upon them as not thankfully to use what they are in possession of and bless his holy Name for its continuance We are not indeed to put off the evil day and flatter our selves that no harm can fall on us We are not to promise our selves peace while God gives signs of his near approaching Judgments But yet we are still to be mindful that God is the same and that we sin by fancying that the Sons of Anak are invincible or by distrusting that He can feed us in the Wilderness no less than we sin by surfeiting in it of Manna For still whatsoever the Lord appoints Psal exxv 6. shall be in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and all deep places He expects we should do what He commands and leave secret things to Him He loves to be trusted and we most effectually ingage him to watch over us when having done what lies in our power we entirely recommend the Event to Him firmly believing that it is best for us not to know whatever He pleaseth to conceal from us For since every day may be unconceivably fruitful of Calamities which by foreseeing or but foreboding are highly aggravated it is compassion in God to keep hid from us what we are to undergo and cannot avoid One of the Ancients saith That he who allow'd a day's space as sufficient to overthrow the greatest Empires gave too large time and much more than was necessary In as much as a few Hours nay Minutes often determine the happiness of Nations and as from slight and very contemptible beginnings grievous divisions have arisen so out of the Brambles hath fire broke that hath devour'd the Cedare of Lebanon and there hath been but a moment between the life and death of the greatest between Adoration and Oblivion Since then God doth not give man power to remove the Evil that may befall him if he could foresee it we ought to bless him for fitting us to bear each day's affliction in its due time by keeping us ignorant of it till it must be undergone For if any do search into His purposes and attempt to know Euturities their sin becomes their punishment They who consult Astrologers and Diviners are either deluded with false or ill-grounded hopes or are tormented with a dread of those miseries which they have not the least direction how to escape but are told will inevitably befall them Like Saul at Endor who was confirm'd in the belief of all the evil he fear'd and had the guilt of his accursed curiosity added to a fuller knowledg of his dismal doom Mind we then what we are called to leaving the Issue of Affairs with Wisdome that is infinite and with Goodness that never fails and so much the rather because our joys will be higher when not pall'd by a long foretast and our afflictions when not foreseen will not imbitter our present comforts Moreover as we know that our days as they may be evil so they may be few and that each day's trouble may be abundantly heavy in the midst of such possibilities of dangers and such calamities which others as righteous as we groan under we have cause to praise that Providence which keeps off the Evil which by reason of our sins we may justly fear For to this purpose we may be allow'd to be thoughtful of Judgments that may be pour'd out on us that by the apprehension of them we may be more livelily stirr'd up to glorifie the Mercy which suspends them and may also by a holy life move God to continue the blessings we enjoy instead of provoking Him by our distrustful thoughts to hasten the calamities we may dread But if on any other account we take Thought for the Morrow we may justly fear a reproach like that which God made to Ahaziah by the Prophet Elijah Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of 2 Kings i. 3. Baalzebub the God of Ekron Is it not because there is no God in the World that you are so sollicitous for what shall happen in it Is it because God hath abandon'd the Helm that you take His place Or because that you want full Employment therefore you overload the present day with the supernumerary troubles of after-times Rather believe That as there was a Providence before you was born so it will not dye with you cast the burden of to Morrow upon Him who only can and will take care of it and you And in some measure resemble you the Israelites who went out of their Camp and gathered Manna sufficient for each day as was commanded not doubting but they should as was promised find it there the next Not but that the Scripture requires diligence in subordination to God's Sovereign care and incourageth the industrious Hand and provident Mind For Joseph laid up stores in the City of Egypt against the years of famine and the Gen. xli Disciples hearing of the dearth that should be in the World did not so interpret Acts xi 29. Christ's doctrine as not to think themselves bound to send relief to the Saints or Brethren at Jerusalem But too often as riches increase the heart is more set upon them and less upon the Living God And it is hard to perswade the wealthy that The Life of a man consists not in the abundance Luke xii 15. of what he possesseth Therefore they provide as if
they should live for ever although they see how little truly sufficeth and know not how soon far less may If therefore Christians were fully convinc'd That their Lives would not last for ever and if they believed That an endless state is to follow they would proportion their thoughts to their Interests a temporary concern should have a transitory Care and an Eternal concern should have their constant Care And therefore they would be mindful of the Present For though we are forbid to take thought for the Morrow we are not forbid to take thought for the immediate Day At first view this may seem too narrow a compass for the large and active Spirit of Man But if it be seriously considered it will appear That as the Evil so the Duty of the Day is sufficient for it For who is there that can say as in the presence of God that He hath during that short space ordered a-right his Thoughts his Words and his Deeds Who hath not offended in so few hours If an ancient Christian found it hard to practise one short lesson Socrat. l. 4. c. 23. that was read to him out of the Psal 39. 1. I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue If he was a long time before he could fulfil that Precept Surely then the guiding well the Lips and the Heart and its Imaginations that are set on Evil will not be an easie task to perform though but for so short a time Our Saviour reproach'd his Disciples that they could not watch with him one hour and even one hour well watch'd the Eleventh hour spent in God's Vineyard will not be without a reward The penitent Thief who employed well the last Moments of his Death rather than Life was that day with Christ in Paradise For God regards the sincerity of Conversion and Perseverance after it and not only the length of time wherein he is serv'd And therefore they are sure to be blessed who are faithful One Day if it be their Last A Heathen could cry out that One Day led according to the Precepts of Wisdom was to be prefer'd before a sinning Immortality How highly then ought Christians to value and employ well One the Present Day which shall be rewarded with a holy and happy Immortality And if after humble Adoration of God and praising Him who brings them to the beginning of another day which they could not promise themselves they seriously resolv'd by the assistance of His Grace religiously to serve Him that day in their Vocations and if in the Evening they examin'd themselves how they had past that day which may be their last and found they had walk'd before God in His fear and as looking to give an account to Him of their deeds with what comfort might they lay down their heads each night and wish they might wake in Eternity But when they review but one day's actions too many will find much cause of shame and grief many failings to be confest and much pardon to be ask'd And yet through God's blessing on this their inquiry as they would be more Strict in their Lives Faithful in their Callings Charitable in their Censures and Regular in their Devotions so they would find that they had little time to spare for unnecessary Thoughts of the Morrow Nay they would then be convinc'd That this World in which our stay is so doubtful and so full of disappointments whose joys are so false and so short and whose sorrows so true and so lasting is not worth their utmost seriousest concern for it and no way deserves their being mighty sollicitous for what shall befall them in it And therefore they would as Travellers look transiently on what past here having their hearts set chiefly on their Country which is above and on that blessed state of Glory that hereafter shall be revealed Since then we know that we dwell in Tabernacles of Clay carrying in our Bodies the Sentence of God and liable to all the Evils that any day hath brought on any distressed Person Family or Nation What is it that they who pretend so much to be concern'd for the future ought to mind but that Future which shall never end and to provide what will survive the great evil day All the good things of this Life however eagerly sought hardly obtain'd and carefully kept here must be left behind Onely our good Works Onely the Fruits of Faith in God and Conformity to the blessed Jesus Onely our Charity and participation of the Divine Nature will accompany us to and be of use at the Tribunal of Christ Hear we then our Lord teaching us while it is called to day to seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and to look on this Life only as a portion of Time assign'd us to work out in it our Eternal Salvation And if mindful of this happy end of a Christian Race we are sober and just humble and heavenly-minded if we constantly do each day the duty of the day as if at night we were to answer for it and live each day as not knowing that any more may be allow'd us but in it our Lord may come upon us We shall then with mighty assurance though the Earth be never so unquiet and the Powers of it tremble commit to God's guidance our Bodies Souls and Spirits our Country and His Church and shall find that God will govern all to His Glory and for our Everlasting Salvation To Him Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be Glory and Honour for ever Amen FINIS